An Unusual Proposal
by ayshin79
Summary: Warrick plans a romantic night out to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Angel. But they face an unfortunate event that tests their love. Warrick Brown-Angel Williams pairing
1. Chapter 1

Fear can be a great motivator but mix it with alcohol; it'll drive a person… any person to death. Dark road in the middle of nowhere… no one and nothing can help. Sweat pouring out of your body, your head and your hands. Sweat on your hands making it impossible to hold the steering wheel. Sweat on the head trickling down your face and eyes, somewhat blurring your vision, but that isn't why he can't see. He knew he shouldn't have drank but he had to… especially after what he did to the young lady in front of her fiancée. All of his money, his house, his family and his friends went down the drain and for what? A little fling from a woman he couldn't have. Out of nowhere, a light came from behind temporarily blinding him. It was too late before he could comprehend what was happening. The car behind him started to push his car, which ultimately led to a car chase. But the Red Mazda that he was driving had a speed limit, so he couldn't outrun the guy behind him, which eventually led him to drive off the strip and through a chain link fence of a local factory. The car rolled over on its roof in a septic tank and caught fire.

At the Crime Lab

"Gris, any case you need us to work on today?" Nick asked, walking into the office with Sara.

"Yeah, got a 401 at the end of the strip for both of you to work on," he explained, giving the form to Nick.

"Hey, where's Warrick and Angel?" Sara asked

"On their date," he said.

Nick looked up from the paper he was reading, "huh?"

"Warrick's going to propose tonight, remember?"

"Oh, that's right! Totally forgot," he smirked. "Lucky bastard!" Grissom raised his eyebrows and Sara shrugged. "We better be off to the crime scene." Nick left the office and Sara followed.

Moments later, Catherine walked in, "Got anything for me?"

"Well…" he started off as Catherine raised her eyebrows, "I'm going to need your help around the office today."

"Doing what?"

"Warrick is planning to bring Angel here tonight after he proposes. He wants to celebrate their engagement with us," he said "I'm going to need your help getting the party started."

Catherine smiled, "I'm more than happy to help out."

At the Crime Scene

"What do you got?" Nick asked as soon as they arrive to the crime scene.

"An unknown male driving in a red Mazda with a California License plate. A couple of truck drivers saw the smoke and the silhouette of a car, called it in. It took the Fire department an hour to eliminate the fire," Brass explained.

"Thanks, Brass," Sara responded. "Let's just hope that Warrick and Angel have a better night than us."

"Right," Nick said, taking pictures of the crime scene.

"Hi, guys," David called out as he talked towards the dead body in the car.

"Hey, David," Nick called out. "We're waiting for you to clear the body." David went towards the body and coughed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, the smell is still strong," he explained, "From the look of his skin, I'd say that it's in between 2nd and 3rd degree burns. I can't give you an accurate TOD because the body's still hot.

"Nick, could you see if you can pop the truck?" Sara asked. Nick looked inside and saw the truck lock and pulled to see if it'll open and it did. Sara took pictures of what was inside of the truck. "Seems that our vic's livelihood was in the car. He has everything he needs in there… clothes and all of his personal belongings. I wonder why."

"Maybe he's moving to town?" Nick offered

"Or maybe he's leaving town," Sara said. After some time the heat cooled off and David was able to perform some preliminary tests before he could deliver it to the lab for a proper autopsy. "Anything distinctive?"

"The guy's caucasion," David said. He felt around the body. "Wait a minute, I got something," he said and pulled out a wallet.

"Brass?" Nick called out.

"What's up?"

"Got a wallet," Nick said and gave the wallet to him.

"A California driver's license indicates that this is a Michael Jones, 35 years of age," Brass read off the card.

"Find anything else, Dave?" Sara asked.

"I'll know more after the autopsy. The body's yours."

"Thanks, Super Dave," Nick said. He took pictures and cleared it before allowing the other coroners to wrap the body and bring it to the lab. They continued to process the scene until it couldn't help them anymore. "Let's head over to the lab… got to see what Doc says about the autopsy." Nick and Sara collected all the evidence, packed it into Nick's Denali and went to the lab. Once they arrived to the parking lot, they saw Catherine on the phone, talking to someone. Catherine motioned for them to stop.

"Okay, thanks guys… send it over to Las Vegas Crime Lab and ask for me. Yeah, Catherine Willows. Thanks again," she replied and hung up.

"I'm glad that you're here. Grissom's probably going to tell you anyway, but Warrick's going to bring Angel by later for a team celebration on their engagement. So try to do all you can with the evidence tonight before they come."

"Not a problem. We'll definitely do our best. We want to be there for them," Nick said and Sara nodded. The trio went into the lab and started doing the things they needed before Warrick came by with Angel.

flashback

_"Hey,__ Poncho__?"__ Angel asked as she saw him in the break room. _

_"When are you going to stop calling me __Poncho__?"_

_"When you stop calling me __Halo Girl__," she replied, knowing all too well he won't. They both grinned._

_"What's up?"_

_"__I__ just__ need to ask you for some advice__… just some outside point of view on my relationship with Warrick__," she said as she looked up to him. The look on her face concerned him._

_"What's the matter?" he asked.__ He saw that she was hesitant and suggested,__ "__Let's sit down first.__"_

_"Yeah," she said as they both sat across from each other. Once they were settled, Angel continued, "I'm not too sure as to how much __Warrick's__ been telling you about us, but he's been acting weird as of late."_

_"What do you mean by weird?"_

_"He's not his usual self when he's around me. When he's around me, he tells jokes to make me laugh, he takes his time to explain things to me when I don't understand something… he's __become less than overprotective of me but at the same time he's become more overprotective. It's hard to explain," she said._

_"I __get it__. I'm sure that it's nothing to worry about__. He loves you. Everyone here at the lab sees that. He worships the ground you walk on and talks __contstantly__ about you whenever we're together. Maybe it's just one of those times where he has a hard time expressing his love for you__," Nick said, trying to help calm her nerves. He knew exactly what was going on with Warrick but didn't realize that it was also affecting her too._

_"Every__time I talk to him__ about us or about marriage or anything,__ he clams up. I thought that maybe you could talk to him and see what's wrong," she said, looking at him, hoping that he could help out._

_The look on her face got to him, "__Hey, I'm sure it's nothing serious, but __I'll talk to him and see what happens. __I__f it's something really serious,__ you'll be the first one to know,__ okay?" he said softly._

_"Thanks for listening. I didn't mean to bring all of this to you," Angel replied, wiping a stray tear off her cheek._

_"You can talk to me about anything, you know that," he replied.__ They both got up and he hugged her tightly. He was wondering why Warrick was keeping the engagement ring a secret. "Come __on,__ let's go back to work… hopefully that'll take your mind of him for a while." They were working on the case together at that time._

end flashback

"Earth to Nick, you there?" Sara asked, waving her hand in front of him.

"Sorry, I was thinking about a conversation that Angel and I had last week," Nick explained. They had already dropped DNA evidence to the lab as well as Trace. They were both at the locker room changing clothes.

"What was the conversation about?"

"Just something between me and her," Nick replied.

"This isn't you, Nick."

"What isn't me?"

"You being all secretive."

"Just something that Angel brings out in me. Just want to protect her, that's all," he said as he left the locker room, leaving Sara privacy. In all the years that they've worked together, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Angel and how she immediately got the guys to be overprotective of her. She's always been jealous of her. She specifically asked not to work with her and to Sara's surprise, Angel offered no objections.

Nick went to the collaboratory room where the box of evidence from the car accident was placed. He knew that Doc Robbins just received the body and needed some time to develop a full report. He looked over the evidence he collected and carefully place each and every evidence on top of the table and trying to examine the cause of the accident and the death of Michael Jones. Once he developed a pattern, his cell phone went off and saw that he got a text _Autopsy's done. Robbins._ Sara came in moments later, "What's up?"

"Doc just finished the autopsy report and needs to see me. Come with me." Nick and Sara went to the coroner's office to talk with Doc Robbins. "Hey, Doc."

"Nick, tell me something… what do you get when you mix alcohol, drugs, fear, high testosterone and sweat while you're driving?"

"Him?" he asked, pointing to the man on the table. "But how did he get high testosterone?"

"Well, something like him…" Doc said which caused Nick to raise his eyebrows.

"What do you mean something like him?" Sara asked.

"Let's just put it this way… there's a possibility that he's a pedophile…" he started off

"Or a boyfriend who likes to masturbate a lot?" Nick suggested.

"He got high testosterone because he was physically excited by something," Doc explained. Nick raised his eyebows. "His gentials may be inactive but the remaining bodily fluids that weren't burned off from the fire are still running high."

"What's the COD?" Sara asked.

"An OD between drugs and alcohol, but that was just the start down the path of death; since he was driving and got into some kind of car acciden, he ended up getting a blunt force trauma from hitting the steering wheel which he hit hard enough to cause the skull to crack and bleed. That was the official COD," he explained.

"Then what's the factor of the fire?" Nick asked.

"Nothing but post-mortem damage. I sent DNA samples to Tox to get a more detailed report on the alcohol and drug use."

"What caused the fire?" Nick inquired.

"That's your job to find out," Doc Robbins said and Nick smirked.

"Thanks, doc," he said as he and Sara left the room.

"Not a problem."

On the way to the collabratoy room, Nick's cell phone rang. He opened it and saw a text message. _Car's in the lab._ "Sara, you up for looking at the car?" Nick picked up his kit that he left in the room.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Got to process the car to find out what caused the fire, huh?"

"Let's do it," he said and put his kit on one of the side tables. Just when they both were ready to start processing the car, both of the pagers beeped. _"My office now.__ Grissom"_ Nick and Sara looked at each other puzzlingly. "Guess this has to wait." Sara nodded and they both headed towards Grissom's office.

"What's going on that needs our attention?" Sara asked.

"Sara, I know that you're not going to care much about this situation, but please do show some kind of emotion on this, okay?" Grissom asked; he looked very concerned.

"What's going on?" Nick asked. He noticed that not only was it him, Sara and Grissom, but Catherine and Greg were there.

Grissom noticed Nick's expression. "I know that all of you were wondering what's going on, but I just got a 427 on Warrick and Angel," he started off, everyone except for Sara gasped. Nick had the look of pain and anger on his face.

"Do you know where they are now?" Greg asked.

"Brass is getting the info now and will be informing me shortly. Nick, we'll find them, okay?" Grissom said.

"Are you saying that to convince me, the team or yourself?" he asked, his voice strained.

"All of us… we got to believe that we can find them," he said and Brass walked in.

"Found them, they're at the Hilton Hotel at the end of the strip. The paramedics are on their way," he explained. Everyone was relieved that they were alive, but they just didn't know how they were physically.

"I need everyone on this case," Grissom said.

"What? You expect for Nick and me to put our evidence on hold?" Sara asked.

"It wouldn't matter if Grissom told us to or not. I'm going to help them," Nick explained.

"What about our victim's family? Don't they deserve to know what happened to him?"

"They do, but this is my friends and I'm going to be there for them," Nick explained hotly.

"And as your supervisor, this isn't negotiable. You're helping out," Grissom ordered. "Let's carpool... I want Sara and Greg in my car and Catherine and Nick together. We'll follow you, Brass," he said as they all followed each other out to the parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile at Angel's apartment

"What do you think? This one?" she posed in front of the full-mirror with one outfit, "Or this one?" posing with the second outfit, "So what do you think, Cali?" An orange and white spotted cat meowed. Angel gotten her for her 21st birthday by her parents and fell in love with her ever since. She had a difficult time naming her but she decided on Cali because she found out that the cat was abandoned in California. "The first outfit it is," she said as she laid out the outfit on her bed. "I'm wondering why Warrick wants us to dress up tonight… what do you think, Cali, that he's going to propose tonight? I mean he's been acting weird as of late," she said and the cat meowed. "I don't know either. You're not alone. It would be great if he did propose, don't ya think? Then I can become the future Mrs. Warrick Brown," she said dreamily. "Whatever… gotta change my clothes. Warrick's coming in 20 minutes," she responded as she headed towards the bathroom to put on her outfit. "He's going to like this very much, don't you think so, Cali?" Cali meows. "Me, too." She went to the bathroom to put on the final touches for her date tonight. A doorbell rang, "I'll be right there," she responded, then proceeded to put lip gloss on. She walked towards her full-length mirror to give herself one final look-over and was satisfied. She put the lip gloss in her purse and walked to open the door. She smiled once she saw Warrick there, "Hi, Handsome!"

"Damn!" he responded. He leaned down to give her a kiss, which she openly accepted. "You look beautiful, baby," he said softly.

She smiled and responded, "You look fabulous as usual."

"I try," he said, shrugging.

"Want to come in for a bit?" she asked, opening the door wider.

"Sure," he said, walking in. "I brought you some flowers."

"Thanks! Let me go put this in a vase with water," she responded, taking the bouquet. "Wanna tell me where we're going tonight?"

"You'll find out when we get there… don't worry your pretty little head about it," he said, smirking. She walked out and put the flower vase in the middle of the dining room table.

"The flowers are beautiful," she said, admiring them.

"Not as beautiful as you are," he said, he felt that nothing could ever amount to Angel's natural beauty.

"Well, aren't you a charmer," she laughed, walking up to him and hugging him.

"I'm just telling the truth," he replied, kissing back.

"Want to take off now?"

"Yeah, let's head out," he said, walking with his arm wrapped around her waist. They went out the door and Angel made sure that she locked it before turning to Warrick and wrapping her arm around his waist. They headed out to the car making small talk about their day went. As soon as they went outside of the apartment, Angel gasped. "This is just the start, baby," he said as he guided her towards the limo's opened door. She went inside and sat down, waiting for Warrick to come in and sit down beside her.

"Warrick, you didn't have to get a limo for us tonight," she said.

"I know, but I wanted to do it. You deserve this treatment tonight," he said leaning to kiss her. The limo started driving to their destination. Warrick had made sure that the driver knew where he was going. He didn't want anyone to mess up his date with Angel tonight because he was going to propose to her. She was there for him through thick and thin. His colleagues knew of his gambling addiction, especially her. She did everything possible in her power to help and encourage Warrick to not give into the temptation to gamble. It was only through her that he was able to overcome the addiction. They've been through so much crap especially with the way he's been treating her. He broke her heart in so many ways that would cause any girl to not want to be around him. He wondered why she didn't leave him. "Got a question for you."

"What is it?" she said, holding onto his hand.

"Why did you stick around me? I mean I broke your heart so many damn times. Any girl would have just left me but you didn't. Why is that?"

She sighed. She knew that this question was going to come up sooner or later. She replied, "It's quite simple, really…" she started off. He raised his eyebrows. "You know that I was adopted into an African-American family, right?" she asked and went on as soon as he nodded, "My older brother had the same problem as you. He was a gambling addict. He just couldn't stop gambling. I found out one day and I got pissed at him for lying, stealing and gambling. I had to do something about it. I just couldn't sit there and accept what was happening to him. I went into his bedroom while he was sleeping and just started smacking him around, yelling and cursing and hitting him. He kept asking me what I was doing. My parents came rushing in and thought something bad happened. When they saw me smacking around, they were telling me to stop and let go of him. I got so mad at my parents and asked them if they knew if he had a gambling addiction. They didn't know. We sat around the dining table and just talked about it. I was there for him when he was trying to quit. I didn't know what to do at that time, but I did what I could. He's still fighting that temptation now because he hasn't completely gave it up like you. So when I saw the similar pattern in you, I knew that I had to do something. I wasn't going to give up on you."

"Thank you," he replied, kissing her on her head.

"For what?"

"For not giving up on me. I couldn't have done it without you. Grissom and I talked recently and he was telling me how much I've changed since meeting you. I told him that you were the reason why I quit gambling altogether," he said.

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"We're here," the driver said.

Angel had looked out of the window and looked back to Warrick with raised eyebrows. "What are we doing here?"

"The place of our dinner plans," he said simply. The driver opened the door and Warrick was the first one out, then holding his hand out to help Angel out of the car. They looked like movie stars coming out of the limo. Everyone around them was envious of them. Warrick patted the guy on the back and said, "I'll see you in a few hours," and walked into the open bar with Angel. They both walked towards to where the host was standing.

"How may I help you?"

"I got a table for two reserved under the name of Warrick Brown," he said. The host looked down on his chart and smiled. He pulled out a couple of menus from the side shelf.

"Right this way," he said, leading them to their table. After allowing them to sit, he placed the menus in front of them explained what the House Specials were and left. A waiter came shortly after and took their drink orders.

"I can't believe you're doing this, Warrick," she said, glancing up from her menu.

"I just thought that it would be nice if we had a romantic night out. Is that wrong?"

"No, it's not wrong… just can't help but wonder what brought this on," she said.

"Just felt like it, that's all," he said. Inwardly, he was nervous as hell because he didn't want this night to go wrong.

The waiter came back with their drinks, "Ready to order?"

"Baby, you ready?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, I'll have Chicken Stir-Fry, Teriyaki style," she said.

"Give me Filet Mignon, medium with house salad and Italian dressing, please," he said. The waiter left as soon as he took their orders. They made small talk as they waited for their food to arrive. That was something that Angel loved doing with Warrick. She would grab every free time to talk with Warrick about everything and anything. It was stimulating to her especially since they both work with people on their worst day of their lives. She felt fortunate enough to get the same night off with Warrick. It was rare that they'll both get the same night off. She valued those times with him.

flashback

_"Now that everyone's here, I'd like to introduce a new member of the team," announced Grissom. Everyone was gathered around in the break room. The newest member was only 5'2" and felt extremely short among CSI giants. She stood left of Grissom with Catherine on the right, then Greg, Sara, Nick and Warrick. Sara and Catherine felt a bit overprotective of the guys but were somewhat thrilled that there was a new female on the team. "This is CSI Angel Rose Williams." Everyone raised their eyebrows, not because she was a __new__ CSI but because her name didn't match what she looked like._

_"I'm sure that you're wondering why my last name is different…" she started off "it's because I was adopted into an African-American family since I was 1__1 years old__."_

_"How did you get adopted into a family at that age?" __Catherine__ asked._

_"My biological family abused my during my childhood and I couldn't handle it anymore, my neighbor saw what happened and took them to court to get custody of me," she explained with no emotion__When she looked at Warrick, they both got a sense that something was going to happen but couldn__'__t figure out what it was__ What they didn__'__t know was that the other CSIs had sense that they__'__ll be married one day._

_"__What makes you think that you__'__re qualified to be on our team?__"__ Sara asked snidely._

_"__Sara, that was inappropriate!__"__ Grissom warned._

_"__No, __its__ okay,__"__ she responded gently. __"__I suspected that someone would react that way towards me.__"__ She thought about how to respond to this situation for a minute. __"__Sara, I am aware that you may have some issues about adding a new member on the team,__"__ she started off._

_"__I don__'__t have any issues,__"__ she said, trying to defend __her__self_

_"__Then why the outburst?__"__ The group tried to hide their grins with her confident remark; when no response came, she continued. __"__Look, I didn__'__t choose to be here, but that I met all of you, I__'__m thinking that it may have been the best decision that I ever made. LVPC and CSI recruited me because one of my professors has connections here and recommended me. He knew that LAPD wouldn__'__t want someone like me. W__h__en I said someone like me, I mean by a Korean-American female adopted by an African-American family doesn__'__t bode well at LA. LA still has issues __against African-American people. That__'__s why I__'__m here. I knew that there would be discrimination regardless of where I live because I__'__m already experiencing it now by you,__"__ she explained confidently and looking squarely at Sara. Warrick, Nick, Greg, Catherine and Grissom smiled and knew that Angel was going to be around for a long time to come._

end flashback

"Hey, baby," Warrick asked.

"Hmm?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"The first time that Grissom introduced me to the team," she smiled ruefully.

"I still couldn't believe that a little bit and a Level 1CSI like you put a CSI 3 like Sara into her place," Warrick said, smiling at the memory, "I mean, after Grissom put you on your first case with me, from what I hear from Nick that she was ranting and raving about how she thought that you were all righteous and all that. Then Catherine, Nick and Greg just told her off because we needed more people like you on the team."

"What do you mean, "people like me?""

"Determined, strong-willed and full of spunk," he said and she smiled "But I got to admit Nick and I were appreciative that you were there at that time because you brought some innocence around the lab at that time and still do. That was something that we haven't seen for quite some time especially in this field of work," he said, holding her hands in his. The waiter brought food and they were eating and having an animated conversation through dinner. After eating dinner, Warrick paid the bill and they both headed towards the Mist just to sit around and dance to the music. Once they both got into the hang of things… about an hour and a half later, they've noticed that the crowd was starting to get rowdy.

Angel leaned towards Warrick's ear to talk to him, "Could we leave? I don't like the rowdiness." Warrick leaned back and saw the look in her eyes and he nodded his head. He knew that she didn't like this type of environment. Angel held onto his arm as they tried to weave through the crowd. Somehow Warrick and Angel were walking through the crowd easily but didn't realize that 4 men were surrounding them and walking with them. As soon as they were outside, one of them grabbed Angel forcefully and two of them grabbed Warrick. "Warrick!!!" Angel screamed.

"Angel! Let her go!!! Angel!" he was screaming at the man who was holding her. He tried to reach her but the 2 guys held him back.

"Warrick!! Help me!!!!" she screamed, fighting the guy with all her strength but he was stronger than her.

Warrick was fighting the other two guys but they both held his arms and forced him to move. The fourth guy was leading them to a private area where the car was parked. "Put them in the car now!" he barked. It was a big van and they both pushed Angel and Warrick into the car. Angel immediately cuddled herself into Warrick's arms as he was taking in their surroundings. They both took in their surroundings to make sure that they knew what to tell the team when they were being questioned.

"Where you taking us?" he asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," one of them said. It seems that three of them were in the van and the leader was in the other car. The guy started the car and waited for the leader to start driving.

"What's happening?" Angel asked softly, only loud enough for Warrick to hear.

"Seems like we're being abducted and I don't know why," he replied softly, rubbing her back. After driving around for 10 minutes they pulled into a parking lot of Hilton Hotel on the Strip. It made Warrick think about why here of all places and not some seedy hotel. As soon as they parked, the three guys went behind the van and pulled both of them out.

"Warrick!" Angel called out again. She wanted to be in his arms. She felt safe in his arms. But the guy who held her kept their distance from Warrick.

"Leave her out of this! We didn't do shit to any of you!"

"Ah, that's where you're wrong! Both of you brought shit in my life," the leader said. "Let's go," he said and led the way to the hotel room. He opened the door and everyone came into the room. "Tie her up on the bed," he said, "Hold onto him… I want to make him suffer." Everyone knew what to do except for Warrick and Angel.

Angel was screaming and sobbing to be let go. She didn't think that this night would turn out this way, "Please let us go," she begged.

"I can't," he said. As soon as the so-called hired hit men finished tying her up, the leader went up to Warrick, "I want you to watch what I'm going to do to her. It's a price that you pay for what you did to me before."

"And what was it that I did to you before?" Warrick tried to go at him but the 2 guys held onto him.

"Took her away from me before I actually proposed!" The voice sounded so familiar but Warrick couldn't place it.

Angel calmed down enough to recognize the voice, "Michael? Is that you?" Michael turned his face sharply to Angel.

"I see that you acknowledge me now. He took you away from me," he said, then slapped Warrick.

"NO! Don't you slap him! He didn't do anything to you!" she said, straining against the ropes around her wrists.

"Yes, he did! He took you away from me!" Warrick now remembered that Michael was an abusive ex-boyfriend of hers, in which she had to get a restraining order against him. Warrick attempted again to Michael but the two goons held him back. Michael didn't want to argue with either one of them. Instead he walked towards the bed and started to hike up her dress and pull down her underwear while she was screaming at him to stop. Because of the restraints, she couldn't fight back to get him off her. The guys who were holding Warrick back were shocked at this new information that just developed. They hadn't realized that she was innocent and didn't do anything to him. Michael looked at the guys and warned. "Don't even think about letting him go! You all haven't earned your pay yet!" he barked and proceeded to take his pants down and rape her.

"No, Michael! Please… I'll do whatever you want… just don't rape me!" she begged.

"Too fucking late! I loved you then and I love you now. I told you before that you weren't allowed to love any other men in your life. Remember that promise you made me?"

"What promise?" she asked, sobbing, hoping that the small talk would delay in him raping her.

"The promise you made to me, remember? You said 'I promise to love no other man except you. If you can't have me, then no one can,'" he said.

"I never made that promise to you," she said. He slapped her hard and she could feel blood coming out of her mouth. She was couldn't stop her crying. "Please let us go. Don't do this to Warrick and me, please!" Warrick was looking hotly at Michael, totally disgusted that he was doing this to her, to his angel. He knew that these two guys were stronger than him, but he had to fight somehow.

"Don't even think about raping her!!! She doesn't deserve you!!!" Warrick sneered at him.

"But she does deserve me… if she doesn't deserve anyone, it's you," he said, looking at Warrick. He turned back to Angel, "You broke that promise to me and now you'll pay!" he said as he was ready to rape her. During that whole time, he wasn't paying attention to the three guys. He didn't realize that they had let Warrick go and that he was behind him. Right when Michael was ready to rape her, he felt a force of a punch.

"No rapes her and lives to tell the tale, especially from the likes of you!" Warrick sneered. All the while he was hitting him; the other three guys fled the scene.

"Warrick," he heard her say softly, momentarily stopping him. "I need you!" he turned towards her and the look of her broke his heart. He punched him in the face one more time to make sure that he wasn't going anywhere. He went to tend to Angel… helped her free from the restraints. While he was comforting Angel, he didn't realize that Michael had come to and grabbed the opportunity to escape. Warrick let him go, knowing that one day he'll get him somehow.

"Sshhhh, it's okay, I'm here. No one's going to hurt you, sweetheart," he said, rubbing her back. She shivered and that's when he noticed that she was partially naked. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around her. Warrick then called Dispatch from the hotel room's phone and called it in.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they got there, they saw Warrick arguing with the paramedic about taking care of Angel instead of him first. Brass met up with them at that time. Grissom went over, "Warrick, calm down. Let him do his job."

"He needs to take care of Angel first. She got hurt more than me," Warrick sneared.

"Think of it this way… once he looks you over, then you can take care of Angel, deal?" Grissom suggested.

"Fine," he relented. "But if you talk to Angel, she might not respond. She clamed up."

"Why?" Nick asked.

"I'm not too sure what you know, but it almost got worse," Warrick said.

"Worse how?" Catherine asked.

"Angel almost got raped," he said. Everyone was shocked and speechless.

Nick was able to speak up, "Is she okay?"

"She isn't saying much but from the sound of her voice… she's just shaken up."

"Is she up to talking to us?" Nick asked.

"Feel free to talk to her but don't be surprised with her reaction," Brass warned.

Grissom approached her gently, not wanting to scare her. "Angel?" he spoke softly. She looked up at Grissom who she considered as an older brother and immediately burst into tears. Grissom immediately took her into his arms. "It's okay, you're safe now."

The paramedic approached the team, "She's fine… just some ligature marks on her wrists and ankles from being tied down. Other than that, she's fine." Warrick then rejoined the team.

"Thanks," Catherine replied. "Greg, Nick and Sara, come with me to process the hotel room. Which room was it, Warrick?"

"Room 135," he said, pointing to the direction of the room. They headed towards the room to process everything.

"Angel, I know that you don't want to do this, but I have to question you about tonight's incident, okay?" Grissom asked. Angel nodded.

"Could Warrick stay with me while we're talking?" she asked softly.

"I'm sorry but for the investigation, it's not wise to do so," he replied.

"Don't be sorry. I just wanted him to be near me, that's all," she said.

"I understand, it would be best to interrogate individually. We can save the interview until we get to the lab," he explained.

"Got some news to share with you," Brass said as he approached the three of them. "The three goons that were with you and Warrick just turned themselves in. It seems to me that they felt guilty about their actions."

"Makes it easy on the team," Warrick responded. "And me."

"What do you mean" Grissom asked.

"I won't have to hunt them and beat their ass but still got to look for Michael."

"So both of you know who it is?" Both nodded. "That'll help a lot." After a couple of minutes, "But where's the fun in the hunt if they turn themselves in?" Grissom asked. For the first time in a while they saw Angel smile.

"Just sometimes, having the bad guys turn themselves in makes it worthwhile… at least for me in this situation, it does," she said. Warrick nodded his agreement. After sitting there for a few minutes, the paramedic released her and the four of them headed back to the lab to starting the questioning.

"Angel, let's go in," Grissom said as he led her into the interrogation room. "Let's start with the timeline from the moment you started getting ready to the moment Brass came to talk to you."

"Well, I started to get ready at 5:30 pm because Warrick was picking me up at 6:30 pm. I was going through my wardrobe to figure out what to wear. I took a shower and everything but I still haven't decided what to wear until 20 minutes before he came to pick me up," she started off.

"The same dress that you have on?" Grissom asked.

Angel nodded, "Yes, the same dress. He arrived on time and brought flowers. He came into my apartment for a bit before we took off to our dinner plans. I asked him what he had planned for us tonight but he didn't tell me anything and told me not to worry. He rented a limo for tonight's event, although I didn't understand why he did. He just said that I deserved the treatment from him. We went to Tangerine Lounge and Nightclub at Treasure Island. We arrived at about 7 pm. He had reservations for us tonight, so we got in pretty quickly. We ate dinner and talked about different things. After that we went over to the Mist, which were a bar and a dance area. I couldn't keep track of the time because I was enjoying myself immensely with Warrick. Before I knew it, it was getting a bit rowdy and I don't like that. I ask Warrick if we could leave and we did. That was probably around 10:30 pm. I held onto Warrick's arm because I didn't want to get lost. Somewhere along the way, it became easier. I wasn't aware of my surroundings because I kept my look on Warrick. Then as soon as we got out of the bar, this guy just grabbed me and restrained me. I screamed for Warrick but when I looked at his direction, there were two guys restraining him. The fourth guy, which was Michael, was leading all of us. I didn't recognize him because I only focused on Warrick. I didn't acknowledge Michael until we got to the hotel room. I had a restraining order against Michael and I know that it's still active."

"Who was the judge that granted the restraining order?" Brass asked.

"It was Judge Henry Michaels," she responded.

"I'll get in touch with him and see what happens," Brass said but stayed to finish the interview.

"Why did you get a restraining order against Michael?" Grissom asked.

"Because he was abusive to me. We dated for a while and he became that abusive boyfriend. I broke up with him and got a restraining order against him," she explained. "Warrick knows about it. I told him earlier in our relationship. During the time that he wanted to rape me, somehow the guys who were with Warrick let go of him and he came and rescued me from Michael. Michael escaped but Warrick didn't go after him because he knew that somehow Michael would be caught one way or another," she explained.

"That was when Warrick called Dispatch?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, he did. I was frightened to death to do anything," Angel said.

"That's okay. I'm glad that you're telling us now. Anything else you want to share with us that may help us find him?" Brass asked.

"Well, I don't know if it helps but I know that he drives a red Mazda; it has a California License plate on it," she said.

"Are you sure?" Brass asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I think it's the same one that was in the car accident earlier tonight. If we showed you the picture, would you be able to identify it?" Brass asked.

"Yeah," Angel said.

"I'll go see if Nick left a picture of the car," Brass said as he left.

"I'll be right back. Want me to get you something to drink?" Grissom asked.

"Some hot chocolate would be great," she responded.

"Stay with her, please," Grissom asked the officer that was in the room. He nodded. He went to the private room because he knew that Warrick would be there. "We're pretty much done talking with Angel but still have a couple more questions before talking to you," Grissom explained and Warrick smiled appreciatively. Grissom went to get some hot chocolate for Angel and went back to the interrogation room. Once he was in there, he could hear Angel sniffling and softly crying. "Your hot chocolate is on the table. Are you okay?"

"I guess… I just don't handle situations like this very well," she explained.

"That's why you have us to depend on," Grissom explained and non-verbally emphasizing the team. "I need to ask you something, you don't have to respond if you don't want to. I'm just wondering how you knew that he drove a red Mazda?"

"He's had that car for who knows how long," she explained. "Why did you want to know?"

"I bumped into Nick earlier tonight and he said that there was a car accident that happened sometime after you were almost raped. The car was a red Mazda the same car that Brass was asking about. There was a male in the driver's seat and he's dead," Grissom explained.

"I got a picture here," Brass said as he came into the room.

Angel looked at the picture and nodded, "Yeah, it's the same car. Does that mean that he's dead?"

"It's a possibility. Recognize this man?" Brass asked as he showed the picture of Michael.

"It's him," she said as she sobbed. She looked at Brass who nodded that he was dead.

Grissom hugged her, "You okay with interviewing Warrick alone?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Where is he anyway?"

Grissom said "Break room."

"I'll wait for both of you to leave so that I can get him," Brass explained.

"Let's go to my office, okay?" Grissom asked. Angel nodded as she grabbed her hot chocolate on the way.

As soon as she left, Brass went to the break room and motioned for Warrick to follow him. "We'll make this quick so that you and Angel can get back together. I know that you don't like being away from her," Brass explained and Warrick nodded. "You know what to do. Let's develop a timeline from the moment you picked up Angel to the moment I came to the crime scene." Warrick stated his story and it was consistent to what Angel had explained.

"The guy's dead?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, found his car at the end of the strip on fire."

"How did Angel react?"

"She cried, but she's in Grissom's office. He's calming her down as we speak. The interview is over, so you can go see her," Brass said.

"Thanks, Brass," he said as he got up from his chair and went to Grissom's office. When he got there, he smiled at the sight in front of him. She was sipping on a cup which looked like hot chocolate and was talking animately with Grissom. He would give anything to make sure that there was a smile on her face all the time.

He snapped out of his day-dreaming when he heard her voice, "Warrick? You all finished?"

"Yeah, I'm done," he said. She put her cup on Grissom's desk and stood near Warrick.

"Come here," she wanted him to bend down to her height, which he complied and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her face was hidden between the nook of his neck and chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered how much he loved her. He felt her shiver a little bit.

"Look at me, Angel," he said softly and he nudged her to look at him. "I love you, okay? Forever and for always." She smiled because it was one of her favorite love songs from Shania Twain.

"Want to take this to the break room?" Grissom asked but he looked directly at Warrick, knowing that he would want to propose to her in front of the team. There was nothing more romantic to her than being surrounded by people she loves.

"Yeah, that okay with you, sweetheart?" Warrick asked. This was it… the moment that he was going to propose to her.

"Yeah, I want to see everyone before we leave." Grissom had already asked everyone to come to the break room after they had processed the evidence and filed it up. The case was over since the guys turned themselves in and Michael had died. The only thing left was to process the evidence and file it, but that could wait. All three of them headed towards the break room. Nick was the first one to see them coming and got everyone's attention. "What's going on in here? Why is it so decorative?"

"Tonight was supposed to be special and I was going to bring you here after our date," Warrick started off. Angel looked at Warrick puzzingly. "Just bear with me, okay? I'm still that dork from high school," he said, but she refrained from speaking but her eyes told him something very different. "Angel, I loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. All I wanted to do was to protect you from all the ugliness of this world but you've seen so much already since you've been working here and from your childhood. But from here on out, I promise that it's nothing but happiness," he said, then he got down on one knee and she gasped as she saw the ring box, "Angel Rose Williams, will you marry me?"

She looked at the ring and it was a gorgeous 1/2 CT. T.W. Diamond Three Stone Ring in 14K White Gold. She looked into his eyes and said, "Yes, I'll marry you." He put the ring on her finger and discarded the box. He immediately picked her up by her waist; she instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and they both kissed. They both smiled and finally acknowledged the rest of the group and celebrated their engagement.

"How did you afford that ring?" Nick asked; Catherine both slapped him on his back. "What?" he asked innocently.

Angel went towards him, "Why are you asking. Poncho?" He groaned and shrugged. "You don't even have a girlfriend… so back off!" She said scornfully. Nick actually thought that she was serious. "He could afford it by working hard, so take it easy, Poncho," she said playfully. Everyone laughed at Nick's expense.

"Haha, laugh all you want!"

"You'll be in his shoes one day, you know?" Angel said.

"No, I won't," Nick said back and they all laughed at the friendly banter between the two.


End file.
